Ambertwo Dusk: The Hybrid
by WriterMistress
Summary: After the gruesome experimentation on both her and Mewtwo, Amber escapes to find herself in a world where her cloned memories and the Pokemon around her are her only guide. Seeking to understand the world and its hardships her life as a trainer begins. Will she learn to control her powers before Team Rocket discover her or will her powers take her life before they get the chance?
1. Prologue

Memories faded faster than thought's fleeting moments. Dreams however, stay forever in our hearts as desires yet to be summoned into this world. I knew no dreams, as the dream was where I walked, where I began. Reality, I learned, was nothing but a nightmare.

The dream was of life in a world I had yet to find. I was flying, feeling the wind rush past me. I was alone but content. There was green on the mountains, beneath the trees in the woods and even under the water of the rivers and streams. The flowers were in bloom on every tree, and in every bush there were roses; I wished their scent was enough to keep me in that world.

It seemed to last an eternity, then suddenly diminished into no time at all. Everything was happening too fast, I was leaving too soon. The roses and their luscious world grew dimmer as it was torn from me, like paint running from a canvas.

For the first time I felt pain. It shot like electricity through my veins. It awakened me but I only opened my eyes when the pain had dulled. I felt weak, limp. Inside a world of green liquid I was suspended with chains around my wrists, restricting movement. There was movement inside the green; shadows all similar in appearance but separate, moving around, huddling together. I blinked. No, it was outside, _they_ were outside. _I_ was inside.

Trapped.

Were they keeping me here? Who were they? I was still questioning many things when a bolt of pain, equal if not more powerful than the first, exploded into my body. My whole form jolted. I opened what I learned was my mouth and screamed. There was something within that scream, something that was not sound but feeling; a strong feeling, a power trying to push out, trying to attack the oppressors, anything to make the agony stop.

I didn't know what that feeling was, but I didn't care. All I knew was pain. This power was like a separate being, it answered by blowing the glass and green liquid outward and away. The shackles chain snapped and I fell forwards, still powerless. The pain was ended but replaced with a new one. Glass fragments cut into my skin as I frailly pushed up from the floor. There were many eyes on me; I hated every one of the strangers.

"Amazing," said one. "Her appearance has changed."

Another spoke, looking questioningly at the first. "Would that be due to the enhancement or the Pokémon DNA splicing, Professor?"

Their words were hollow to me. Memories trickled back, but they were few and even more puzzling. The tall human, my memory told me, was a scientist. The word 'human' in my hazy memory seemed to describe them. What I saw were empty soulless creatures with no room for emotions, only information.

They cared nothing for me.

My muscles began to tense as I went to stand. The professor knelt down to meet my gaze but no offer of assistance was made. "Do you know me, Ambertwo?" I scowled at him. My memory allowed speech but I would not grace them with my words. After a long silence, he seemed to register the stubbornness in my eyes. His mouth turned into a thin line as he got back to his feet.

"Bind her again, the serious testing begins now."

Hands seemed to come from nowhere, once again leashed like a pet. The shackles were bound together and I was dragged to my feet. My muscles had gained some strength but not enough to fully and steadily control my own body. Not that they cared; they pushed and shoved until I fell to the ground. I was less than an animal now. I crushed my eyes shut tight to remember what I could.

Pokémon. That was a word the Professor's underling had used. My body was a hash of human and Pokémon. I wasn't even sure what I looked like, surely I appeared inhuman if they thought to treat me this way justly. I wished my power would return and save me. But I was alone and this time, the contentment of my dream world was lost.

Dragged through hallways that stung my nose with the smell of metal I didn't speak a word. Not even when they released my chains, leaving the shackles on and dumped me in a dirt arena. A human wearing the black uniform with the red letter on the front, just like all but four of the humans I'd met, stood beside a gigantic rock snake at the other end of the arena. My memory awoke again with the word 'Pokémon'. That creature was a Pokémon, an Onix.

There was silence before the pain returned emanating from the shackles. My power was resisting as if it feared as I did. The human sent the beast after me. Fear flooded every fibre of my being almost blocking out the pain. I struggled to my feet.

Too late.

The Onix barrelled into me with the force of an avalanche. I flew to the wall and fell. Now winded, the pain kept on going but I was numb to it now, fear had taken its place. The pain increased to such a level I screamed with all the air my lungs could contain. The power was unleashed inside of me once again. My fear having focused on the rock snake was acting as a control rod. It aimed the power instead of just exploding outwards. The Onix received the blow of my power as if it were a soft foam ball struck by a metal pole. It soared further and faster than I had, striking the ground in a storm of dust and sand. It's Trainer, the human that had commanded it, was nearly crushed underneath it as it landed.

A few seconds more and the power had drained me considerably. Whatever energy I had was gone. I wobbled before I collapsed to the ground and let the darkness envelope me.

I opened my eyes to see I was once again chained but not inside a glass casket this time. Beside me I could see many tanks all with what looked like Pokémon. Most occupants, I sensed, were dead. Only four lived now. They were thinking, dreaming but not awake.

I closed my eyes and fell into darkness, but this time I was conscious. I felt others within the same place as me. I opened my mind's eye to see them floating in nothingness as I did. Three were Pokémon I recognised from my memory. A Charmander, Squirtle and a Bulbasaur; all had different markings. The early echoes of the experiments floated in my mind. 'Clones'.

Now I understood; these Pokémon were copies of the originals. I clenched my dream fists. What did that make me? The memories were not mine, they were another's but they must be lost if they wanted them to return. There was a fourth presence but it was strange not like any Pokémon I'd ever seen.

He too questioned his existence, though a small and young clone he was intelligent. I answered one of his questions and he opened his eyes to look at me. "The noise you hear outside are human voices, they are talking to each other."

He opened his violet eyes wider as I approached, unsure of how I was doing so. "What are you?" he asked; his long and thick purple tail wagging in wonder.

I smiled as I too wondered. I didn't want to answer 'human' because I was not sure I was. Instead I said, "I'm a person."

He tilted his head to one side. "A person? Am I a person?" he seemed so lost and alone that I could want nothing more than to help him.

He drifted closer to me, inquisitive. "You are a Pokémon I am sure, but you can speak which is strange for Pokémon."

"Pokémon? Person? What are they? Which one am I?" I smiled for the first time at his questions.

I gazed into those lavender eyes and thought how such disgraceful creatures such as humans could create something as wonderful as him. "It may make a difference to you of what you are but not to me, I like you as you are."

I looked around at the black void around us. I saw the other Pokémon appear again, they came over to join us. It suddenly occurred to me that there were no human's here. We were different, even me. Could it be something like telepathy?

I looked at him and a name sprung into my head from somewhere outside. Mewtwo was this creature's name. A copy of a Pokémon named mew. "If you are here then you must me like me and perhaps them too." I gestured to the other three Pokémon.

Mewtwo looked at them as well. I decided to be fair and tell him as much of what I knew as I could. I floated closer to the four of them. "We are all copies, that is why there are 'two's' after all our names."

"I don't understand." He looked vexed and was quite upset about it. I shook my head.

"I don't either." I felt another memory press its way through to my consciousness. "My name is...Amber, well Amber _two_. I too am a copy of the real Amber, whoever she was." I looked into the void trying to understand.

With the force of my thoughts the entire void around us changed to mould into something I recognised. I led the others as I too needed to know and understand. "I know this place. This is Amber's memory."

"But _you_ are Amber" Mewtwo looked certain now, more certain than I felt.

I smiled at him again. "Yes I am Amber but not the one who experienced all of this. This is only data being passed into me through her DNA." Below us lay a town, her hometown, where Amber once lived. It was night as we were watching but that soon changed as we floated aimlessly. It turned to day and as a bright ball appeared in the sky Mewtwo looked up in awe.

"What is that?" he asked pulling away at its sudden unexpected brightness.

"It is the sun."

"What's it for?"

I sighed, his questions soothed me. "To keep the world and its creatures warm in the day and to help plants grow strong." A strong gust of wind blew into us, refreshing my memory still further but alarming poor Mewtwo as he reached towards the sun. I held my long blue hair in place as it flowed past us. "That's the wind. It changes from time to time. Sometimes it's soft, sometimes it's strong and sometimes there's none at all."

Without any time passing at all the sun sunk over the horizon turning it to a rosy red. The sky itself blushed at Mewtwo's innocence. "That's dusk or sunset, when the sun goes away for a while. It always comes back even when everything seems to go wrong, I always remember that the night is darkest before the dawn."

Now night fell again but this time the sky was visible because of the great white face staring down at us. The stars accompanied it and twinkled in the cloudless night. Mewtwo looked questioningly at the white circle in the sky so much like its brother the sun.

"Is that a sun?"

"No Mewtwo, that's the moon. The stars are up there too." I pointed to the individual dots in the sky. "They shine brightly all through the night. Sometimes it helps to look up at them and remember that you're not alone." Since leaving my dream world, this was the best I'd ever felt.

I heard a moan of slight pain and worry from behind me. I turned to see Charmander fading into nothing. I closed my eyes as the reality came back. This world was where Mewtwo and I had brought the clone's minds. If Charmander's was fading, he was either waking or dying. I knew which of them it was but still held on to the other for Mewtwo's sake.

He looked at first puzzled, then a little frightened. It made it worse when both Bulbasaur and Squirtle began to fade also. I held in the tears, I didn't want Mewtwo to worry. I knew Mewtwo was strong and that he would never fade as they had.

Mewtwo flew over to where they had just been floating and looked up at me expectantly. "Where did they go?" I felt a cold breeze rattle my real body. I was waking up. I didn't want to leave Mewtwo but I could not stop myself from awakening. I put up a mental battle which was why I lingered longer than the other three had.

Mewtwo looked scared for me, I was touched deeply. This Pokémon I had only just met cared for me better than the scientists who had known me for what seemed a lifetime. "What's wrong Amber? What's happening?" I didn't think I could answer him in my current state but I tried all the same.

"I think I must say goodbye Mewtwo," I said sadly.

"Goodbye?" he repeated, his eyes filling with tears. The world around us faded just as Mewtwo noticed the blurring of his eyes. "I feel...wrong." He said and wiped at his eyes. "What are these?"

I suppressed my own tears. I didn't think I'd see Mewtwo again. "Those are tears Mewtwo. You are crying." My consciousness was winning and it took more of my strength to stay with him.

"Crying?" he looked at the tears he had touched then at me. I reached out to wipe the rest from his face.

"I remember something that Amber's father told her. He said that when Pokémon were sad and in mourning they cried. Those tears that they wept were filled with life."

"I'm so sad," the tears kept coming and it wrenched my heart to see them in his eyes. I could not hold onto this wonderful place, or to him for much longer.

I came closer to him and cupped his face in my hands, "I have to go now, Mewtwo." The tears in my eyes came forth without restraint now.

"But why?" he asked desperately grasping at my arms.

"I don't know, but it's alright. Thank you for caring about me." I lowered myself so I could look at him levelly. I made sure to wipe the remaining tears away from his face. He touched my face to tracing the tears with his strange fingers. "You shouldn't cry Mewtwo. You are alive and life is wonderful." It was then that I fully awoke, leaving Mewtwo in that void once again.

Anger and misery burned inside me once again. I saw the tanks with my awakened eyes, the three dead Pokémon were still in their tanks. Mewtwo was there too and I could hear the urgent shouts. Something was happening to Mewtwo. Something had happened between my awakening and sleeping state. I pulled at the chains around my wrists, trying to break free of my prison.

I heard Mewtwo's voice in my head. He was screaming my name over and over, begging me to return. I could sense his fear, his pain and I wanted to answer but I was unsure how. My powers were still not under my control. "Doctor!" one of the scientists cried. "Mewtwo's brainwaves have lost control!"

I yelled at them with all my voice. "He's in terrible grief you imbeciles! He needs me!" The professor looked at me for only a moment.

"It's getting too much extreme emotion; it must not remember what happened here." He looked at me with coldness, "It must not remember her." The anger I felt went cold. They were going to make Mewtwo forget me. Would that not cause him more pain?

Again I pulled at my restraints begging my powers to help me get free and save Mewtwo.

"Administer the serum, now!" it took only seconds for it to happen. The glowing of Mewtwo's aura that had raged on my disappearance began to fade into nothing once again. He was in a comatose state again almost completely unaware of what was happening around him.

Rage and fear took over my mind at that point. Something snapped in my head, they had taken the one thing I had in this world. They would pay with their lives. I thought about nothing else than to cause pain to them, to make them suffer for what they had done.

My power surged through me with indigo light breaking my bonds and letting me drop to the floor but this time I could feel everything. I landed on one knee and propelled myself forwards with a howl of fury. Like a mad beast I launched myself at the professor unsure of what my body planned to do to him. Before I could reach him I was caught mid flight by his Pokémon guards.

A dog-like Pokémon with black fur and horns caught my shoulder and off balanced me. As a result we flew into a machine which sparked and smoked as we tussled. I beat off the dog only to be taken down from behind by something stronger. A large purple snake bound me in its coils, but even that could not stop me. My power exploded out of me like a bomb. Everything within a six metre radius was thrown backwards.

I was unsure whether or not I had inadvertently killed Mewtwo in the blast but at that moment I was blind to anything else. They now relied on machines to control me. Metal arms flew at me from all directions but I knocked them aside with ease. I had no idea that more Pokémon were coming until I lay buried under them all. Every single one tore into me, intending to kill me. Dogs, cats, bats, rats, snakes and living smoke spumers tried to do away with me.

Even though I didn't feel any physical pain until later, my instincts for self-preservation kicked in. I burst free of my attackers and only to realise I had been levitating. My powers were helping me to fly. With extreme speed I blasted my way upwards and out through the roof. Shrapnel tore parts of my skin as I shot away as fast as I could go. The true breeze felt like velvet to my skin. I knew after this moment I would never have peace of mind again.

Further and further I flew over the ocean and towards the forest covered land until my energy was spent and my sorrow and anger abated if only for that day. I tumbled from the sky smashing into trees making a pathway by way of pain. I crashed into the ground, my momentum making a trench in the ground as I slid to a stop. I looked up at where I had landed. It was a small clearing in a large forest with a river running through it.

Fearful wild Pokémon flew and scattered as I had burst out of the broken canopies of the trees. I hated my weakness. I hated myself. I feared and hated everything yet it still continued to exist. I wanted to destroy what I had no power to, not any longer. Human's had taken everything from me. I had nothing now.

I only realised I was bleeding as I dragged myself to the river to drink. It felt wonderful but not enough to dull the pain in my constantly bleeding wounds. I lay there quietly in the leaves under the dying sun for a while only breathing and waiting for death. Pokémon reappeared.

I wanted them to finish me quickly, I could not hold onto consciousness much longer. The bug ones stayed and strangely sprayed thick web like material onto my wounds, stopping their bleeding.

Why were these creatures helping me?

As time went by, my vision darkened; though it was not enough to block out a human figure rushing towards me. I went to move away but had no strength left. There was a snake like Pokémon with him, small and blue. He came too close for comfort. I managed to move my arm to push him away but he knocked it aside. "I'm here to help." His voice tried to calm me and it partially worked as I was too tired to remain alert. I still did not believe him, no human ever helped me. The last thing I saw before I passed out was his impossibly red spikey hair as he carried me safely in his arms.


	2. Chapter 1: The Decision

I regained consciousness inside a small room, a hut, finding I was in a bed covered in white sheets. I ran my fingers over my skin, my wounds were healing well but still painful to the touch. As I went to get up a hand pushed me back down, gentle but urgent. The touch made me flinch away instinctively. Seeing the hand owner was human, I pressed myself against the nearest wall. It was an elderly woman.

Her hair was white and her hands were wrinkled but her eyes shone like stars. Her appearance gave little comfort. "Get away," I said trying to merge with the wall. She took her hand away but made a gesture of assurance, although in vain.

All I could hear with her presence was the clinking of metal. All I could feel with her touch was the bolt of electricity running through my flesh. Human's meant pain, human's meant cruelty. I repeated it over and over in my head until I was almost deaf. My powers woke and sent chairs, cups, knives, forks all spinning. The lady's mouth moved in an urgent manner but I could hear nothing. I closed my eyes and through my powers saw the objects I was moving. Each had a glowing outline where my power was holding each and every object. My fear and anger increased the sizes of the objects I threw. I was now aiming at her, throwing everything within reach.

Then I sensed another, a stronger far brighter aura burst into the hut. His was human as well; I changed my target and threw countless more things at him. His Pokémon had a white aura, small but blinding and was trying to get to me. I strengthened unconsciously. The snake moved to strike but hit a glowing barrier. It rebounded and flew backwards out the door.

The human called out, I could almost hear his voice; it sounded familiar; it sounded pleading. Though his aura was surely strong it also felt gentle. He managed to move his way towards me, managing to block various projectiles thrown his way. As he was getting closer his voice grew louder.

"Look at me!" he cried out. I mumbled to myself, almost in a trance, the two sentences over and over again trying to block him out. "Human's mean pain. Human's mean cruelty." Again and again he tried to get closer to me but I wouldn't let him in.

"Open your eyes and look at me!" he repeated. My anger and fear increased with his persistence. My eyes shot open, about to unleash the strongest blow yet upon him. But then I saw his face. His brow was creased but not in anger. His hands were held up but not in aggression.

I recognised his red hair. This is the human that had shown me kindness whereas before I received none.

Everything stopped as if time itself slowed, before my power faded and everything dropped, even my shield. My facial expression must have shown something for he came to kneel before me as I sat still as stone on the bed. "I won't hurt you." He put his hand out in invitation. I removed myself from imprinting on the wall slowly.

"I know," I said. I reached for his hand though I was still hesitant at what may happens. Once his hand held mine I took in the feeling, analysing it for all it was worth. It felt strange. Not his hand, just the experience of touching another without pain. I let out the breath I was holding and returned his smile.

In that moment I felt something I never had before, it made my stomach spin and sent my thoughts into a whirlpool of confusion. I wasn't sure of what to do at that moment, I was only sure of the young man in front of me. Of his inner strength and purity of heart, then of how his hand felt on mine.

A few minutes passed as he sat beside me as he stroked his 'Dratini' as he called it. I learned his name was Lance and that a Pokémon like his, indeed any Pokémon, could be caught inside a Pokéball to be trained and used in battles or as a companion.

Dratini was a battling Pokémon. A Dragon type. There was so much I didn't know, most of my memory was limited by the original Amber's age. As far as I could tell she had been around eight before her death. Looking at my own body at that moment I realised I had been aged quite a bit.

"The way you said 'human' before makes me think you aren't human yourself." Lance's voice jolted me to reality. He gave me a strange look and I averted my gaze. Remembering the DNA splicing of Amber with whatever Pokémon they had used in my creation. I was a hybrid, an impossible thing, he didn't need to know that.

"I'm not. I was created, not born." Considering how painful he saw the mention of my past was he asked nothing more about it. However I continued on still studying my body. "I look human; I can pass for a human as long as my powers remain unknown." I could see the curiosity on his face. "I know about as much as you do now, I can't tell you anything more."

He nodded, accepting that. "I must leave now. You're safe here." I nodded and hesitantly reached out to pet Dratini. It was an apologetic gesture, considering I did throw him out the door. It was then that I realised, not everything means me harm. Not every human is evil.

Before Lance left he looked back at me, his cape flapping behind him, "You know, you're not the only human alive with Psychic powers. There are others out there."

I simply shook my head in response. "There's no one like me."

In the months that passed I did not leave the hut much, but after a baffling amount of encouragement from Ms Leaf, I ventured outside more. I breathed the fresh air and was glad to be free. I sat beneath an old oak to daydream and eat lunch most days in peace. It turned out we lived on the outskirts of a town called Pallet; a small but reasonably friendly community. Regardless, I stayed away from the residents as long as possible. Even Ms Leaf and I didn't speak much we did nod and smile in return for greetings.

There were young children in the town who often passed us by on their little adventures. Most ignored me but the few I knew were on their way to becoming young trainers. These few teased me as I kept my distance. Like a freakish wild Pokémon, every time they saw me and I preceded to retreat, they kicked dust, threw stones. I found it difficult to control my fear of them at times even though in human years I was at least twice their age.

It worsened the longer it went on.

It was the day before they got their starter Pokémon that I almost exploded in uncontrolled rage. They came along and as I noticed their intents upon their approach I stood my ground for once, hoping they'd think better and leave me alone. They took immediate offense and the beating began. No true harm came to me as I had resisted an Onix before, so there was little damage they could do. It was more the act than the walloping they were giving me.

I could feel my powers growing with my fear, but rather than getting a chance to unleash it on the little runts, a Pokémon rushed out of the grass, bone in hand and flung it with all its strength at them. It did not hit them but it rushed about their heads like a boomerang and they ran in alarm, scattering to the wind.

I stood up and brushed myself down as I looked at the strange Pokémon. It had a skull for a helmet so its face couldn't be seen.

"Thank you, friend," I said with all earnestness in my tone. It suddenly occurred to me that without use of my powers I might not be able to communicate with Pokémon as well as I'd first hoped.

That worry was then smashed to pieces.

"Try not to get into trouble again," was the reply. I paused for what seemed a lifetime before turning to face it again.

"Did you just talk?"

"Of course," he answered almost uninterested until it occurred to him as well that this moment was very strange indeed. "You mean you can understand me?" I nodded. It was strange like I was hearing with both my ears and my mind. Semi-telepathic. If I was part Pokémon, my Pokémon DNA was able to inherently understand their language. My heart beat hard, it was like Mewtwo all over again.

I'd tried to forget him over the months of my new life but he would never leave my thoughts entirely. "Dusk?" someone called my name.

I had not told anyone my clone name. I thought it best to make my own life and not repeat Amber's. That name would not pass my lips, neither anyone else when they thought of me. I picked the name as it reminded me of my time with Mewtwo, one of the sights we saw together.

I turned in answer to my name. "Yes?" The professor that resided in the town appeared. His grey hair betrayed his age. "Oak," I said simply. I would never use the term Professor if I could help it, considering the first Professor I knew had tortured me. In all honesty, Oak was the one who healed me when I first arrived. He was not quite a human doctor nor a Pokémon doctor but he was an expert in the field of Pokémon and what Lance had said to him about my sudden appearance had intrigued him. He had helped me and so I owed him like Lance. The least I could do was be polite.

"I just didn't want you to miss the trainers being seen off tomorrow. You know there is still room for you," my smile was small. I had been relieved that I hadn't told anyone about my DNA splicing. Any Professor, no matter how good hearted, would want to learn more. I was too afraid to repeat history.

"I wouldn't miss it but I still won't join, you know that." He nodded and raced back off to his lab in the centre of town. I looked back to where the mysterious Pokémon had been standing but he'd vanished back into the grass. I sighed, I guess it was too much hope for to find a friend in a Pokémon again. My heartstrings wrenched at the thought of leaving Mewtwo again.

That night I was watching something called a TV and was intrigued that there was strategy to Pokémon battles rather than just brute force. It took teamwork to win and I grew fond of the idea overnight. However my mind lingered on the thought of forcefully catching one. It seemed like imprisonment to me. There were perhaps some good reasons. Travel ease for one and safety for another.

I was however starting to like the idea of a companionship. The companionship would have to be real of course and not a forced bond that the Pokéball gives. There was another programme on the TV that interested me. It was a traditional way of fighting. I had been mimicking the moves when alone and had gotten better over time but I had twisted some of the moves and made them my own. They were probably clumsy and childlike at best.

I felt like some fresh air that night so I went outside to gaze at the full moon, feeling another pang of remembrance. As I rounded a corner that led me to my favourite spot I almost tripped over a small creature coming from the other direction. I made a dart to the left and looked around at the creature. It was the Pokémon I had met that afternoon, again he spoke.

"I've been watching you."

I raised an eyebrow. "I'm not sure that's such a comforting thought."

He seemed to laugh, it was hard to tell. "I meant I'm intrigued by you. You fight rage within yourself yet you learn how to fight. You can speak to me whereas no one else can. And just now you move unlike any human I have ever seen." That last part almost stung me.

"I'm not human," I snarled trying to not take offense.

"Well that explains a lot," he answered, shouldering his bone club.

I crossed my arms, "like what?"

"Other than the obvious? The smell," he teased and for the first time in my life I laughed. He seemed to sense this. I had asked Oak about the Pokémon earlier that day and he said it reminded him of a Cubone; the lonely Pokémon. Its story was a sad one. He suited me perfectly. Perhaps he had inadvertently bonded with me. Appearing then disappearing, but the caring only for itself was a puzzle, since it didn't really sound very Cubone-like.

He had saved me after all, perhaps he had been alone too long. Ignoring the thought I knelt to his height. "I was deciding on becoming a trainer." He looked surprised and I asked about it.

"You seem too highly strung for that sort of thing." I raised an eyebrow in an accusatory sort of way but then nodded.

I sighed, "I need to let go of my past but to do that I'll need help. Battling and companionship should set my mind at ease," it was at that particular moment that he looked up at me. "I was wondering if you'd accompany me, be my first Pokémon. Stand with me as an equal without a Pokéball to keep you."

His eyes made him easier to read. They were lavender in colour and they shone with excitement and intelligence. "I would love to." I offered my hand and without another word he took it. A few seconds after we touched, something strange happened. My memories soaked into his mind through my powers and I had a feeling that I had the power to do the same to him but managed to stop it, believing it to be prying. I let the memories flow; he needed to know everything about me in order to trust me.

When I put him down he looked at me in shock and I simply nodded. "I have known pain almost all my short life. Now you see why I want to forget."

"I will join you, for your sake." I had never heard such honest kindness from any Pokémon except from Mewtwo.

"What will I call you?" I asked thinking of the problem suddenly. He was a Cubone, but that wasn't enough. It would be like him calling me, human. He simply shrugged, "my name is Dusk."

"No it isn't," he said simply.

I froze and ground my teeth, "it's the name I have chosen, so it will stay that way." He nodded understanding my reasons, having seen my memories.

"Daemon."

"What?" I raised my eyebrows. The light of the moon on his skull glinted as he looked up at me.

"I don't really have a name. It's what I've been called from time to time." I frowned but agreed, that would be his name. I led him back into the hut and showed him where I slept and asked where he would prefer to sleep. "Near a window, where the moon shines clearly," I gestured to the window seat on the other side of the room where the curtains were pulled. His eyes showed me his thanks as I went to go back to bed. I would have to explain my sudden Pokémon appearance to Oak in the morning when all the others would be leaving with their own first Pokémon.

The next morning I was all set to leave with Daemon in tow but I had to let Oak know. As soon as I got to the door where the kids ready to leave were waiting to see which of them got what Pokémon, all eyes turned toward Daemon. Two figures stood out, I recognised one of them dressed in a blue shirt and like his clothing choice, his name was Blue. He was the grandson of Oak and had a real attitude problem. I wasn't sure about the other, dressed in a red jacket and black shirt. All I could tell was that he was most definitely Blue's rival; the way he stood offensively, his Pokéball in hand, glaring at Blue.

Daemon ignored them as we made our way through the crowd which gradually dispersed as the two main trainers left to start their journey.

I closed the lab door behind me and Oak looked a little startled to say the least as I introduced him to Daemon. "So you did change your mind." He knelt to study the Cubone and apparently satisfied with what he saw, stood again.

"I thought it might be time to think of what to do with my life, now that it's my own." I looked over at Daemon who was resting his bone club on his shoulders. "I'll become a trainer, of sorts...but it will take time for me to know what I want."

Oak was quiet for a moment before he smiled. He held out his hand and I took it, we shook, his pride in me clear. "Then I wish you luck." He let go and went about collecting items scattered all around his laboratory. "Let me set you up, you'll need health kit," he said passing me a green bag with a sign similar to that of a Pokémon centre. "You'll need Pokéballs."

At this I held up a hand. "I'd rather not imprison helpless Pokémon," his eyes looked cynical. However a knowing smile didn't falter on his face.

"As much as you believe Pokémon to be bound to a Pokéball, it isn't an evil thing. How else will you carry around something the size of a Gyarados or Onix?" I couldn't help but feel conflicted. I looked at Daemon who nodded slightly. "Just take them, as a precaution." I took them after some silence and hesitation, quickly stuffing them in my side bag, feeling like a naughty child.

After Oak gave me all the provisions I needed, I said one last goodbye and took my leave.

So we adventured together, far from the town in which I gained my identity. I honestly had no idea where to go so I just decided to follow the path ahead and let my feet take me where they would. On our way I learned much about Cubone and if there had been a Pokémon researcher in my shoes the human race would know far more about Pokémon than they currently did. Daemon was doing his best to help me understand that he couldn't stand water for very long, being a ground type that gave him chills. He also tried to explain what he had watched other trainers and Pokémon do, how each had reacted so that I may understand the type system better.

I had stayed silent for a long while rubbing my arm as the sun began to set and a cool breeze strafed me. "So wouldn't it make sense for you to build up a resistance to water?" he looked at me as though I were crazy.

"And how would you suggest doing that?"

I shrugged, "I'm not sure but I've learned that it's possible to overcome almost anything through pushing yourself." I nearly tripped on a large stone placed right before my right foot. In reaction he struck my toe with his bone on the same foot so I raised it over the rock instead, only realising it was there when he pointed it out. "Thank you," I said averting my eyes.

"You always look like you're so far away," he commented. "It's like reverse dreaming."

My eyes shot to him and narrowed only slightly. "You have no idea how much it feels that way, my memories are…well…it's hard to explain." I sighed in anguish as I tried to explain without bringing much unwanted pain up. "It's like I'm trying to shake this world off, like a bad dream. It still doesn't seem real to me."

Apparently I looked far more fearful than I meant to as the little Cubone stopped and took my hand, "I'm real Dusk, and I'm here."

I couldn't help but smile thankfully at Daemon. "I know and nothing could make me more content." I said giving his clawed hand a squeeze.

It would be a long journey, I was glad to have him by my side.


End file.
